New Milford Fire Marshal

I had been renting the bottom level of a home in New Milford (since Dec.2019) when my landlord passed away unexpectedly in May 2023. Literally 3 weeks later there was an electrical fire in the home and the fire marshal deemed the property unsafe for occupancy. Because my landlord had just passed away, I couldn't, in that moment, prove that I was a tenant for 4 years. If it weren't for the fact that I have stage 4 bone cancer and depend on an oxygen machine to breathe, I would not have received any help that day. Fortunately the Red Cross took pity on me and paid for a hotel for 3 nights. I was given 5 minutes to retrieve whatever belongings I could before the property was boarded up. Even though the part of the house that I lived in had no smoke or fire damage, the fire marshal would not allow me access to my things. When I explained to him that I needed a few minutes to gather some important items, he raised his voice and let me know that all that I was getting was 5 minutes. This "man" was treating me like I had committed a crime. When he spoke to me he was rude, condescending, and impatient. My landlord had 2 beautiful dogs that I was caring for after he passed. Due to my cancer I have a home health aid. They were pitching in to help me care for the animals. My landlord, as one would expect, left the house to his children. They had decided to sell. So I was already looking to move when the fire occurred. On the day that their dad died, I asked the children if they were planning to take the dogs. They were not. I began searching for a solution. I contacted a dog rescue out of Southbury that was going to take the dogs once I found a new place to live. However, unbeknownst to me, the fire marshal contacted the pound to come get the dogs without any word to me that day. I didn't know anything about it until the van pulled up. I wasn't even given time to say goodbye to the dogs that I had loved for 4 years, and to make it worse, they weren't even going to the wonderful rescue that I had arranged for them. As you can imagine, that was a very difficult day for me. I barely managed to keep it together. And, bottom line, the fire marshal made it much, much worse. He is certainly not a person who moves through life with compassion. At least not in my experience.